Machiko Hasegawa

(30 January 1920 - 1992, Japan)

Machiko Hasegawa is one of the first female manga artists. She published her first illustrations in magazine Shojo Club at age 14 and created her most famous comic, 'Sazae-san', in 1946. This was a daily newspaper comic about a housewife and her family. After appearing in a local newspaper, it was taken up by the important Asahi Shimbun paper in 1949.

Hasegawa worked on strip on a daily basis until 1974. It became immensely popular and appeared as theater plays, animation films and in songs. Other comics by Machiko Hasegawa are 'Eipuron Obasan' and 'Ijiwaru Basan'. In 1985 a museum in Setagaya, Tokyo, was dedicated to her.